Max Kuchnie. New strategy. Comprehensive brand service.

The nationwide network of kitchen furniture studios, Max Kuchnie, is Galicja Tomaszek’s own brand. It is a family business that has been associated with the household appliance industry for three generations. Currently (spoiler!) they are the largest supplier of household appliances to kitchen furniture studios in Poland. In 2014, however, the situation was not so rosy.

The company's management board worked on a new strategy for the network. We were offered the opportunity to participate in work on its new direction of development. The customer has never cooperated with any agency in this area before. So they hoped to get support that would achieve the expected goals.
 

In a heavily saturated market, it is a fight for every meter.

The kitchen furniture market in Poland was large, as well as a sales channel for household appliances. There was a stable resource of several hundred studios operating on the market and new ones were still setting up. In 2012, the owners of Galicja Tomaszek successfully linked the interests of several dozen of them. However, the problem was the effective acquisition of new ones of a certain standard, which inhibited the development of Max Kuchnie.

The largest nationwide household appliances and electronics networks were demanding competition, online sales were steadily increasing. These factors were a growing challenge to the company's current sales structures. The management board needed to plan and implement new ideas. The brand was looking for a new development strategy.
 

Market research. Brand identification.

Work on the brand design began with a design audit of services and market research. The audit was carried out among a fixed panel of 50 studios and through online surveys of another 100 studios. We analyzed the information collected during customer workshops. We identified the threats and opportunities resulting from the current network structure. The company's management board was presented with a report, which was also given to business partners.

Having knowledge about the consumer profile, his/her shopping motivations, trends and the kitchen furniture market, we developed the principles of a strategy of action and development for the brand.

The first stage of its implementation involved the creation of a unified visual identification system for the entire network and designing the point of sale branding system. The design work was collected together in the form of a brandbook, which defined the rules for using the new identification framework.

We took care of communication within the organization. This mainly covered the sales department, manufacturers of home appliances and kitchen studios. For its needs, we organized a photo session and the production of POS materials for points. We systematically worked on a new format for a sales newsletter covering a dedicated range of home appliances for studios associated with the network and those outside. This stage was devoted to the standardization of the product range offered to the network
 

Message standardization. Implementation of the new strategy.

In the second stage, we focused on communication with the network environment. The Max Kuchnie website was created together with business cards for the studios and manufacturers of home appliances. The online store started selling, we launched an online shopping configurator, culinary blog, b2b platform. An adwords and remarketing campaign started.

Episodes of the culinary blog produced by us and run by Jagna Niedzielska hit the internet. We conducted network communication in social media and organized numerous competitions in cooperation with its partners.
 

Publishing house of the magazine as a sales platform.

The original project was the Max Kuchnie magazine. We managed to involve well-known names in the culinary industry, including Grzegorz Lapanowski, Tomasz Lesniak, Tomasz Jakubiak and bloggers. Together with the photo agency, we organized a series of thematic photo sessions using the actual designs completed by the studios. The magazine was circulated via the Empik and Leroy Merlin chain store networks.

The Trend Book Max Kuchnie was also released, presenting upcoming trends in kitchen design. At the customer’s request, we were responsible for PR activities and an advertising campaign in the press. Our task was also to support network stores by organizing an outdoor campaign in cooperation with the partners of the household appliances.

Sales goals met. Congratulations to the market leader.

The entire process started in 2014 and lasted over 2 years. During this time we were able to increase the number of studios from 50 to 250, achieve our sales goals, and earn consumer trust.

Max Kuchnie is over 300 kitchen furniture studios and currently the largest SMK network in Poland. It is a brand that effectively manages the leader position and skillfully manages to create the home appliance sales market with the participation of global brands.